Mind Games: Play With Your Memory

The best thing you can do to keep your memory strong is to exercise it regularly, taking care to vary your focus on different kinds of memory to stay brain fit. In this quiz, we'll test your knowledge of the games, facts and possible feats of human memory.

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Question 1 of 10

The World Memory Championships give international memory titans the opportunity to show off their skills. When and where was the first championship held?

London, 1881

Singapore, 2000

London, 1991

The first World Memory Championships were held in London in 1991.

Question 2 of 10

What area of the temporal lobe is responsible for memory?

hippocampus

The hippocampus is responsible for forming and storing memories, and damage to the area can often mean issues with memory.

Heschl's convolutions

Wernicke's lobe

Question 3 of 10

What is the world memorization record for digits of pi?

93,004 digits

67,890 digits

Lu Chao set the world record by memorizing 67,890 digits of pi in 2005. It took the then 24-year-old 24 hours and 4 minutes to recite them!

51,250 digits

Question 4 of 10

How long do most scientists believe the average child's attention span to be, in minutes?

about twice the child's age

about half the child's age

about equal to the child's age

A child's attention span is usually close to their age as expressed in minutes, while adults tend to top out at 20 minutes unless they are personally invested.

Question 5 of 10

What is the world record for longest number sequence memorized in one minute?

132 digits

At age 13, Nischal Narayanam memorized 132 digits in one minute, setting the record. When he was 11, he also set the record for most random objects memorized: 225 random objects in 12 minutes.

354 digits

680 digits

Question 6 of 10

Memory often declines with age. What is the peak age for facial recognition?

teens

20s

30s

New research shows that our ability to remember faces doesn't peak until our 30s.

Question 7 of 10

Which literary mainstay also invented and patented a historical memory game?

Benjamin Franklin

Mark Twain

In 1885, Mark Twain designed and patented a game intended to help people keep historical facts straight -- in the test case, European royalty.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Question 8 of 10

What is the shortest recorded Windows Solitaire game?

6 seconds

16 seconds

21 seconds

The official time for the world record in Windows Solitaire is 21 seconds.

Question 9 of 10

What is the American record for memorizing a shuffled deck of playing cards?

63 seconds

In March 2011, U.S. memory champion Nelson Dellis broke two U.S. records: most digits memorized in five minutes (248) and fastest to memorize a full deck of shuffled playing cards (63 seconds).

51 seconds

36 seconds

Question 10 of 10

What's the official record for simultaneous opponents in a blindfolded chess game?

68 opponents

45 opponents

Miguel Najdorf played 45 opponents in a simultaneous blindfold exhibition in São Paulo in 1947. He won 39 games, lost two and tied in four.